According to the EW interview, she was brought in to do screen tests with Radnor, which wouldn't make any sense if they don't plan on having any Ted-Mother interaction until the finale.

Sepinwall's article speculates on different ways they could structure season 9 so as to fulfill the statement, "Our ninth season will tell the epic story of the longest wedding weekend ever," while still allowing for us to see interaction between Ted and the Mother. Here's hoping they do something like he suggested rather than just have the entire season take place over the course of 56 hours with Ted and the Mother never interacting until the train platform after the reception.

I could have sworn there was something more concrete than just assuming how it might work. When it was renewed, in particular, I thought there was an indication that we would meet the mother in the finale and then an uncertain subsequent season was to follow.

Yes. Dammit. I've been posting that I read that in a printed version of TV guide a long time ago. Well before the announcement that next year would be the last. It is all playing out exactly how that article said it would. But never mind. It is all made up on the spot. Sheesh.

Were people expecting the Mother to be revealed in this episode? If so, based on what? I had no expectations that we'd see the Mother in this episode. Given that they were obviously not going to show the wedding in this episode, I figured we'd have to wait until the first few episodes of next season to meet her.

Yes, it was pretty well-known yesterday. CBS, or Carter/Bays, or someone associated with the show -- obviously I can't remember the reference -- made a statement that we would get "the mother of all surprises" in this episode. Pretty obvious what that meant.

ETA: Apparently the wording was "the mother of all secrets". Here's one place I saw it -- Robert Bianco's TV column at USA Today.

Yes. Dammit. I've been posting that I read that in a printed version of TV guide a long time ago. Well before the announcement that next year would be the last. It is all playing out exactly how that article said it would. But never mind. It is all made up on the spot. Sheesh.

I don't know why you've gotten so wrapped up in a speculative article published long before anything seems to have been decided. Here's an excerpt from an interview with Carter and Bays published after the finale aired:

Quote:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: It’s already been announced that next season will be your last. With another year to go, why introduce the mother now?

CARTER BAYS: One of our hard and fast rules [when we thought we were doing eight seasons] was that we didn’t want to meet her until the very end. We felt like, now that we’re doing another year, let’s find an interesting new twist.

CRAIG THOMAS: We’ve talked here and there about letting the audience see the mother before Ted. Would that be fascinating or let some air out of the balloon? We were scared of it for a long time, but this past season, it came up, and it just fit in so well. Ultimately we view it like we’ve been honing in on this mother mystery for so long. In season one, it was like a shot of planet earth from outer space. And we’ve honed in and honed in and honed in, and we look at season nine as like now we’re down to Google street view. We’ve gone from a super-wide shot to super-microscopic-tight, and it just felt right to see the mother’s face and to give the audience that gift and that knowledge. There was something exciting about getting a little bit of her before Ted ever does. There was something that we felt like this audience who has stuck with us for all of these years we wanted to reward them with that.

BAYS: And to give ourselves the gift of having something. We didn’t want to do season 9 unless we had something that just got us really excited to write it. This concept got us very excited to write it and lent itself to a lot of great ideas that came out. The tipping point was when you have enough ideas that you’re going to be bummed if you don’t get to try these ideas, that’s when it became worth it for us to do season 9, and part of that is revealing the mother. The idea of getting to know her, getting to know where she’s coming from, it became too tantalizing to pass up. We always liked the poetic ending of you never really get to know her, you just see her face or something.

Sure sounds to me like this was something they decided to do after they got a ninth season, or at least as part of convincing themselves they were up for doing one. i.e. not months and months ago. I mean, who knows, but if you read about the lengths they went to to keep this a secret, even if they were planning it for a while I find it hard to believe anyone would have known.

Were people expecting the Mother to be revealed in this episode? If so, based on what? I had no expectations that we'd see the Mother in this episode. Given that they were obviously not going to show the wedding in this episode, I figured we'd have to wait until the first few episodes of next season to meet her.

New topic: Near the end of the episode, the graphic on the screen said "Friday, 10 am, 56 hours before the wedding." It then showed everyone grabbing their suitcases and getting in cars/cabs. The wedding is just on Long Island. It's not like they're getting on a plane and travelling to the location. Why was everyone packing up and heading to the wedding over two days early? Is this normal?

After the episode that started speculating that the mother was dead (where they had the big "45 days from now" thing) I thought I read something that suggested that we wouldn't be getting to the mother until season 9. However, Alysson Hannigan hinted at this outcome in an interview sometime last week, as did the HIMYM Twitter feed. I think it really would have p*ssed some people off if we didn't get some sort of answer tonight (like, you know, worse than the last 7 season finales p*ssed people off).

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Sepinwall's article speculates on different ways they could structure season 9 so as to fulfill the statement, "Our ninth season will tell the epic story of the longest wedding weekend ever," while still allowing for us to see interaction between Ted and the Mother. Here's hoping they do something like he suggested rather than just have the entire season take place over the course of 56 hours with Ted and the Mother never interacting until the train platform after the reception.

To a certain extent, they almost HAVE to do this at some point, even if it's just in one episode:

Quote:

2)They use the wedding as a framing device for a parallel flashback narrative about what the Mother was up to over the last 8 years, including the various times (Ted's lecture to the wrong college class, Ted dating Rachel Bilson) when their paths briefly, tangentially crossed. That's one of the ideas Thomas mentioned a couple of years ago for what they might do if a ninth season happened;

Also, my guess is that he won't meet her for the first time on the train platform. It's possible that they meet at the wedding, have some fun, get into an argument, go their separate ways, and then meet again on the train platform when they make up and give it a go. I just can't fathom that they'd do "the longest wedding weekend ever" and not have the two interact at least a little bit before the train platform.

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Thanks, guys. I wasn't disputing that there were expectations out there about the Mother being revealed in this episode. I only wanted to understand where those expectations came from. If producers and stars and network publicists were making comments about it leading up to the episode, then that makes perfect sense. I didn't see any of that stuff, but if it was out there, then I understand why people had those expectations.

Also, my guess is that he won't meet her for the first time on the train platform. It's possible that they meet at the wedding, have some fun, get into an argument, go their separate ways, and then meet again on the train platform when they make up and give it a go. I just can't fathom that they'd do "the longest wedding weekend ever" and not have the two interact at least a little bit before the train platform.

Based on the way the story has been told and the way they teased the platform scene, I think I'll be underwhelmed if it's anything other than a "lightning-bolt, fireworks, love-at-first-sight" type of meeting. If they've already made eye contact at the wedding, or talked for a few minutes while waiting for a drink at the bar, or something like that, I think that cheapens the "meet" part of the platform scene.

Sepinwall and Fienberg discussed the finale and the direction of the show generally in their podcast today. Warning, to those who liked the finale and/or the show itself lately: they hated it. While I did generally agree with them, I tried to step outside of any emotion about it and consider the critical points they were making. I found the discussion excellent, as is usually the case with the two of them when they talk in-depth about something.

I don't post this as a dig at anyone who liked where we have ended up. (As I posted above, I was ultimately mostly OK with the finale because of the last few minutes.) I just thought it was a good critical discussion.

I think it really would have p*ssed some people off if we didn't get some sort of answer tonight (like, you know, worse than the last 7 season finales p*ssed people off).

I dunno. I think I would have rather seen her at the start of the 9th season than as a cliffhanger.

When I watched the pilot, I had this OVERWHELMING urge to >> to the end to see the part where he meets the mother. That feeling faded over the first six or so episodes and I made peace with the mother being "out there" and that Ted would eventually reach her. Once she goes to the counter and gets the ticket and the whole thing fades to black, I once again had that horrible sensation to immediately >> again. She's----right there! And now nothing is going to happen ALL SUMMER LONG! Argh!!!

I don't know why you've gotten so wrapped up in a speculative article published long before anything seems to have been decided. Here's an excerpt from an interview with Carter and Bays published after the finale aired:

Sure sounds to me like this was something they decided to do after they got a ninth season, or at least as part of convincing themselves they were up for doing one. i.e. not months and months ago. I mean, who knows, but if you read about the lengths they went to to keep this a secret, even if they were planning it for a while I find it hard to believe anyone would have known.

Because it was an INTERVIEW. not speculation. And they have followed it.

Also, my guess is that he won't meet her for the first time on the train platform. It's possible that they meet at the wedding, have some fun, get into an argument, go their separate ways, and then meet again on the train platform when they make up and give it a go. I just can't fathom that they'd do "the longest wedding weekend ever" and not have the two interact at least a little bit before the train platform.

I don't know, if they get through the wedding weekend in couple of episodes it could be funny for her to interact with all of them except Ted.

Maybe a bit of a running gag where every time he's about to meet her something pulls one or the other of them away.

Ok so here is how I feel about the final season. If the season finale opener opens as the start of the wedding weekend and the finale as the train station I think I will be annoyed unless it depends on how well they use their story telling devices to complete the following...

- Regardless of they tell the story we need flashbacks. They already have presented how the mother and Ted have crossed paths multi times. I want to see more of how those were "just misses"
- I then want some of the courtship leading up to the marriage. We have seen Ted in multiple failed relationships. I need to feel closure on how the Mother is the one.

If the two bullets are satisfied and in a story telling matter that fit with the earlier seasons of the show I will be very happy with the final season.

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Based on the way the story has been told and the way they teased the platform scene, I think I'll be underwhelmed if it's anything other than a "lightning-bolt, fireworks, love-at-first-sight" type of meeting. If they've already made eye contact at the wedding, or talked for a few minutes while waiting for a drink at the bar, or something like that, I think that cheapens the "meet" part of the platform scene.

No way. Besides I think he is supposed to meet her at the wedding. She is the musical act right? We just saw her on the way to the wedding like everyone else.

You know that has been the same footage used everytime, right? They just filmed it once.

Would be interesting to compile the whole thing to see how much they have repeated the shots. They could easily have done a few hours with different clothes, etc, in a day and repeated little. Or they could have just minutes and repeat heavily.

Would be interesting to compile the whole thing to see how much they have repeated the shots. They could easily have done a few hours with different clothes, etc, in a day and repeated little. Or they could have just minutes and repeat heavily.

The kids are always in the same clothes, same positions, same facial expressions. And more importantly, always the same "real" age (those actors have not aged at all during the run).

There was one scene a couple of years ago where they needed them to speak a line and the differences in how the actors looked was jarring.

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Without a link, it didn't exist? Even though I've been posting about it here for over a year. Yeah. I made it all up.

You really have a complex about this. I actually wanted to read it.

However, if it was an interview with Bays and Thomas, and in it they said that we would meet the mother at the end of this season, and it was over a year ago, then this is not exactly a scoop -- since a year ago this was the last season.